U.S. patent number 7,032,183 [Application Number 09/875,427] was granted by the patent office on 2006-04-18 for dynamic site browser.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Peter E. Durham.
United States Patent |
7,032,183 |
Durham |
April 18, 2006 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Dynamic site browser
Abstract
A method, system, and computer-readable medium for allowing
easier access to the Web pages of a Web site is provided. A
requested Web page that includes a menu is downloaded along with a
first executable component comprising display instructions assigned
the Web site. A second executable component is also downloaded with
the Web page for creating a data structure in memory having a
tree-like structure and including the titles of the Web site's Web
pages and links to the titled Web pages. A portion of a cascading
menu is generated based on the executable component and the data
structure when a corresponding portion of the menu is selected. The
executable components are automatically updated, if it is
determined that more current versions exist.
Inventors: |
Durham; Peter E. (Redmond,
WA) |
Assignee: |
Microsoft Corporation (Redmond,
WA)
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Family
ID: |
46277707 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/875,427 |
Filed: |
June 5, 2001 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20020054161 A1 |
May 9, 2002 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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09134802 |
Aug 14, 1998 |
6256028 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/823; 715/793;
715/841; 715/760; 707/E17.12 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
16/9574 (20190101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
3/00 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;345/760,764,781,793,804,810,828,841,733,825 ;709/203,217,219
;715/760,823,793,841 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Vu; Kieu D.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Christensen O'Connor Johnson
Kindness PLLC
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of nonprovisional U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 09/134,802, filed Aug. 14, 1998, now
U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,028, the entire contents of which are expressly
incorporated herein by reference.
Claims
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A method of navigating through a Web site downloaded from a
server, wherein the Web site includes a plurality of Web pages,
said method comprising: requesting a Web page of the plurality of
Web pages, said Web page including a menu; receiving from the
server the requested Web page; receiving from the server a first
software component comprising display instructions and a second
software component for generating a data structure comprising
titles of the Web site's Web pages and links to the titled Web
pages; filling a section of a cascading menu based on the display
instructions and the data structure when a corresponding portion of
said menu is selected; and displaying said filled section of said
cascading menu.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed section of said
cascading menu comprises at least one item linked to a Web page of
the Web site.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the displayed section of said
cascading menu comprises at least one item linked to another menu
of the generated set of cascading menus.
4. A system for navigating through a Web site downloaded from a
server, wherein the Web site includes a plurality of Web pages,
said system comprising: a) a user interface component for
requesting a Web page of the plurality of Web pages, said Web page
including a menu; b) a processing component coupled to the user
interface component and the server; said processing component
comprising: i) a first component for receiving from the server the
requested Web page; ii) a second component for receiving from the
server a first software component comprising display instructions,
and a second software component for generating a data structure
comprising titles of the Web site's Web pages and links to the
titled Web pages; and iii) a third component for filling a section
of a cascading menu based on the display instructions and the data
structure when a corresponding section of said menu is selected;
and c) a display device coupled to the processing component for
displaying said filled section of said cascading menu when said
corresponding section of said menu is selected.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the displayed section of said
cascading menu comprises at least one item linked to a Web page of
the Web site.
6. The system of claim 4, wherein the displayed section of said
cascading menu comprises at least one item linked to another menu
of the generated set of cascading menus.
7. A computer-readable medium for navigating through a Web site
downloaded from a server, wherein the Web site includes a plurality
of Web pages, said computer-readable medium comprising: a) a user
interface component for requesting a Web page of the plurality of
Web pages, said Web pages including a menu; and b) a processing
component coupled to the user interface component and the server;
said processing component comprising: i) a first component for
receiving from the server the requested Web page; ii) a second
component for receiving from the server a first software component
comprising display instructions, and a second software component
for generating a data structure comprising titles of the Web site's
Web pages and links to the titled Web pages; and iii) a third
component for filling and displaying a portion of a cascading menu
based on the display instructions and a datafile when a
corresponding section of said menu is selected.
8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the displayed
portion of said cascading menu comprises at least one item linked
to a Web page of the Web site.
9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the displayed
portion of said cascading menu comprises at least one item linked
to another menu of the generated set of cascading menus.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to Web sites and, more particularly, to user
navigation through a Web site.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Sites on the World Wide Web ("WWW" or "Web") that provide access to
multiple Web pages separated into multiple topic areas provide vast
amounts of information in one central location. Web pages can
include documents, articles, graphics, animation, sound, etc., that
have particular relevance to a topic area of the Web site.
Hyperlinks to Web pages with articles are placed in topic area Web
pages that are accessed from a base Web page. For example, a news
Web site may include a home page with hyperlinks to topic area Web
pages, such as business and sports. The topic area Web pages
include hyperlinks to Web pages with articles, etc., pertinent to
the topic area Web page. A topic area Web page can also include
hyperlinks to subtopic area Web pages that include hyperlinks to
still other Web pages.
In the past, user navigation through the type of Web site described
above has been quite tedious because a user has only been able to
access a desired Web page from the topic, subtopic or other Web
page that contains a hyperlink to the desired Web page. For
example, assume that a user has just finished reading a baseball
game summary contained on a Web page that was accessed via a
hyperlink included on a subtopic Web page titled "Baseball" that
was accessed via a hyperlink included on a topic Web page titled
"Sports" that was accessed via a hyperlink included in a topic Web
page titled "News". If such a user wants to read an article on the
President that is located on a Web page that is reached via a
hyperlink included on the subtopic Web page titled "Government"
that is reached via a hyperlink included on the topic Web page
titled "News", the user would have to back out to the baseball
summary Web page through the "Baseball" and "Sports" Web pages to
the topic Web page titled "News", and then access the subtopic Web
page titled "Government" followed by accessing the Web page with
the article on the President. Often Web sites have links to the
top-level categories (topic areas) on each of the Web pages,
thereby removing the need for the upward journey through the
hierarchy, but the subsequent downward journey is still
required.
Topic and subtopic Web pages within a Web site are still the
primary location for hyperlinks that give access to multiple Web
pages with articles. As a result, topic or subtopic Web pages tend
to be longer than what can appear on a single screen. When Web
pages are longer than what can appear on a single screen, a viewer
must scroll the page in order to view all the hyperlinks to Web
pages containing articles. In usability studies, scrolling has been
shown to be an underutilized resource. As a result, many Web pages
are not accessed simply because users do not scroll through Web
pages to locate the included hyperlinks. This results in a loss of
advertising revenue in situations where advertising revenue is tied
to Web page access. The more a Web page is accessed by users, the
more the owner of the Web page can charge for advertising space on
that Web page.
In a first attempt to resolve this lack of usability, a partial
navigation feature was added to a Web page to allow a user to
directly access Web pages in another part of the Web site without
having to progress through the Web site as described above. This
technique did not fully solve the problem because the partial
navigation feature contained access to only a portion of the
articles in the Web site and Web pages were still being designed to
require scrolling to provide access to many Web pages. The reason
why this navigation feature was only a partial navigation feature
relates to the feature's use of a flat datafile to generate user
interactive menus. Flat datafiles occupy a large amount of memory
and take a significant amount of time to download. FIGS. 1 and 2
illustrate flat datafiles of the type used by this partial
navigation feature. The datafiles are voluminous because each entry
occupies multiple lines. One of the lines is designated for
identifying where the entries headline would be located in user
interactive menus generated by the partial navigation feature. A
Web site with a few hundred Web pages may require a datafile a
hundred or more pages long. A datafile of this size might take
several minutes to download.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide user friendly access to all
the Web pages or articles on a Web site without increasing download
time. The present invention is directed to providing a
software-based method and apparatus for providing such access.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a method, system, and
computer-readable medium for allowing easier access to the Web
pages of a Web site is provided. A requested Web page is downloaded
with a site browser and datafile assigned to the Web site. The site
browser includes a version identifier and the datafile includes a
timestamp. A set of cascading menus is generated based on the
downloaded site browser and datafile. The datafile is a
hierarchical data structure comprising titles of the Web site's Web
pages and links to the titled Web pages.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, during
downloading of a new Web page from the Web site, the version
identifier of the previously received site browser is compared to a
site browser version identifier attached to the downloading Web
page. If the site browser version identifier attached to the
downloading Web page is more current, a new site browser and
datafile are downloaded. If the site browser version identifier
attached to the downloading Web page is not more current, the
previously received site browser and datafile are used.
In accordance with still other aspects of the present invention,
during downloading of a new Web page from the Web site, the server
compares the timestamp of the last sent datafile to the timestamp
of a present datafile. If the timestamp of a present datafile is
more current, a new datafile is downloaded. If the timestamp of a
present datafile is not more current, the last sent datafile is
used.
In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, during
downloading of a new Web page from the Web site, a file containing
the datafile timestamp assigned to the most recent datafile is
requested. The datafile timestamp contained in the requested file
is compared to a datafile timestamp assigned to the previously
received datafile. If the datafile timestamp contained in the
requested file is more current, a new datafile is downloaded. If
the datafile timestamp contained in the requested file is not more
current, the previously received datafile is used.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a
requested Web page is downloaded along with a site browser and an
executable program for generating a data structure that includes
the titles of the Web site's Web pages and links to the titled Web
pages. The code implementing the Web page builds the top level of a
cascading menu when the Web page is displayed. When a portion of
the menu is selected, the site browser fills additional levels of
the cascading menu based on the contents of the data structure. The
filled level of the cascading menu is then displayed in a Web
browser and may be utilized to navigate to additional pages of the
Web site.
As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing summary, the
invention provides a new and improved method, apparatus, and
computer-readable medium for improving user friendly access to Web
pages within a Web site without increasing the downloading time of
the Web pages. The use of a hierarchical datafile that represents a
Web site improves download time and increases the usability of a
browser for a Web site.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of this
invention will become more readily appreciated by reference to the
following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIGS. 1 and 2 are example datafiles used in prior art
implementations of a site browser;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a general purpose computer system for
implementing the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process for
providing a site browser and datafile for a Web site;
FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow diagrams illustrating example processes for
accessing and updating the site browser provided by the present
invention;
FIG. 7 is a screen shot of cascading menus generated by a Web
site's site browser and the datafile used by the site browser;
FIG. 8 is an illustrative software architecture for an embodiment
of the present invention implemented using Dynamic HTML;
FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram showing an illustrative datafile
script utilized in an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of the
selection of a menu according to an actual embodiment of the
present invention; and
FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of the
deselection of a menu according to an actual embodiment of the
present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT
As will be better understood from the following description, the
present invention is directed to a method, system, and
computer-readable medium for allowing user-friendly access to Web
pages within a Web site without increasing downloading time of the
Web pages.
Referring now to FIG. 3, in which like numerals represent like
elements, a general description of a suitable computing environment
in which the present invention may be implemented will be provided.
Although not required, the invention will be described in the
general context of computer-executable instructions, such as
program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally,
program modules include routines, programs, characters, components,
data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement
particular abstract data types. As those skilled in the art will
appreciate, the invention may be practiced with other computer
system configurations, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based
or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers,
mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be
practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are
performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a
communications network. In a distributed computing environment,
program modules may be located in both local and remote memory
storage devices.
With reference to FIG. 3, an exemplary system for implementing the
invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form
of a conventional personal computer 20, including a processing unit
21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couples various
system components, including the system memory, to the processing
unit 21. The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus
structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a
peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus
architectures. The system memory includes read-only memory ("ROM")
24 and random-access memory ("RAM") 25. A basic input/output system
26 ("BIOS"), containing the basic routines that help to transfer
information between elements within the personal computer 20, such
as during start-up, is stored in ROM 24. The personal computer 20
further includes a hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing
to a hard disk (not shown), a magnetic disk drive 28 for reading
from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and an optical
disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to a removable optical
disk 31, such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The hard disk
drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 are
connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, a
magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical drive interface
34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable
media provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable
instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for
the personal computer 20. Although the exemplary environment
described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk 29,
and a removable optical disk 31, it should be appreciated by those
skilled in the art that other types of computer-readable media
which can store data that is accessible by a computer, such as
magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,
Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs, ROMs, and the like, may also be used in
the exemplary operating environment.
A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk,
magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an
operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other
program modules 37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands
and information into the personal computer 20 through input devices
such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices
(not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite
dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often
connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface
46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may also be connected by
other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal
serial bus ("USB"). A display 47 is also connected to the system
bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. One or more
speakers 57 may also be connected to the system bus 23 via an
interface, such as an audio adapter 56. In addition to the display
and speakers, personal computers typically include other peripheral
output devices (not shown), such as printers.
The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment
using logical connections to one or more personal computers, such
as a remote computer 49. The remote computer 49 may be another
personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device
or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of
the elements described above relative to the personal computer 20,
although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in
FIG. 3. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 3 include a local
area network ("LAN") 51 and a wide area network ("WAN") 52. Such
networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide
computer networks, intranets and the Internet.
When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20
is connected to the local network 51 through a network interface or
adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal
computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for
establishing communications over the wide area network 52, such as
the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is
connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In
a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the
personal computer 20 or portions thereof, may be stored in the
remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the
network connections shown are exemplary, and other means of
establishing a communications link between the computers may be
used.
The present invention, implemented on a system of the type
illustrated in FIG. 3 and described above, provides dynamically
updated cascading menus that allow one click access to any Web page
contained in a Web site without increasing downloading time of the
Web pages. When a request is made for a Web page included in a Web
site, the Web page is downloaded. This request can be a manual
request by a user (e.g., user enters the Universal Resource Locator
("URL") for the Web page) or can be an automatic request initiated
by the user's system or by a remotely located server. For the
purpose of defining the present invention, a Web site is a
collection of Web pages (hypertext markup language ("HTML") files
or documents) that generally cover a plurality of topics and
subtopics and are interconnected through hyperlinks. A Web page is
a HTML file that identifies associated files for graphics, text,
etc. The Web site includes a home page for initiating user focus to
the Web site.
FIG. 4 illustrates a process performed by the publishers (i.e.,
authors, editors, illustrators, etc.) of a Web site for assigning a
site browser and datafile to the Web site. The datafile is a file
that includes address and headings for Web pages of the Web site.
The datafile is structured in a tree-like manner (hierarchy) for
the purpose of providing a simple file structure that will be used
by the site browser to generate cascading menus. The structure of
the datafile is described in more detail below by the example shown
in FIG. 7. But, before the present invention is used on a user's
system, the process shown in FIG. 4 is performed. First, at block
80, the Web pages for the Web site are prepared by the Web page
authors, and the browse order or Web page hierarchy that will
appear in the datafile is determined. Then, at block 82, a site
browser is created and assigned to the Web pages of the Web site.
The site browser is computer code that will create a cascading menu
using application program interface ("API") calls to the
windows-based operating system on the user's system based on the
structure and contents of a datafile. If the site browser is
created as separately executing code, such as an ActiveX control, a
JAVA applet or other similarly functioning code, the site browser
is attached to the Web pages by including information into the Web
page's code that defines where the site browser is located. The
entire site browser can also be scripted into the Web page's
code.
Still referring to FIG. 4, at block 84, a datafile is created for
the prepared Web pages by saving the address (e.g., URL) and
heading information for the prepared Web pages based on where the
heading will appear in a cascading menu. The location where the
heading will appear in the cascading menu is a choice made by the
Web site publisher. At block 86, the created datafile is assigned
to the created site browser. The datafile is assigned by providing
its address (e.g., URL) to the site browser. Finally, at block 88,
a timestamp is assigned to the datafile and a version identifier is
assigned to the site browser. The steps performed in the process
described above do not have to be performed in the order shown, so
long as the Web pages of the Web site are prepared to execute by
the processes shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and described below.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example process by which the present
invention is implemented. First, at block 100, a request is made
for any Web page of a Web site that includes a site browser formed
in accordance with the present invention. At block 102, the
requested Web page is downloaded. At decision block 104, the
process determines if the user's system already has a stored
version of the site browser for the Web site of the requested Web
page. If the user's system does include the Web site's site
browser, the process goes to FIG. 6 for possible updating. If the
user's system does not include the Web site's site browser, the
process downloads the site browser assigned to the Web site of the
requested Web page. See block 106. Then, at block 108, the version
identifier for the downloaded site browser is stored for later
comparison. Then, at block 110, the datafile is downloaded and, at
block 112, the timestamp for the downloaded datafile is stored for
later comparison. As will be readily appreciated by those skilled
in Web server processes, the site browser and datafile can also be
downloaded before or during Web page downloading. The purpose for
delaying the site browser and datafile downloading until after the
Web page has been fully downloaded is to provide the user with view
and interaction of the Web page without delay.
Still referring to FIG. 5, at block 114, as the site browser
datafile is being downloaded, the site browser fills sections or
menus (hereinafter sections and menus are used interchangeably) of
the cascading menu based on the downloaded datafile. When a section
of the cascading menu has been completely filled, as shown by the
decision performed in decision block 116, the filled section is
made available to the user. See decision block 118. If no section
has been completely filled or sections remain to be filled, as
determined at decision block 120, the process returns to block 114,
and the sections continue to be filled. When all the information
has been downloaded and the last section of the cascading menus has
been filled, the process is complete. The step performed at the
decision block 116 is an inherent decision step because the
functions of filling sections and making filled sections available
to a user are continuously performed tasks While sections remain to
be filled, the filling task will be performed. As soon as a section
is filled, it is made available to the user.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example process for automatically updating
the cascading menu for a Web site. The process performed in FIG. 6
occurs whenever it was determined, at decision block 104 of FIG. 6,
that a site browser has already been downloaded. First, at block
140, the site browser version identifier attached to the presently
downloading Web page is compared to the stored version identifier.
Then, at decision block 142, if the site browser version identifier
attached to the presently downloading Web page identifies a more
current version of the site browser, the process returns to block
106 in FIG. 5. See block 144. Otherwise, the process continues onto
block 146 that includes the step of comparing the datafile
timestamp attached to the presently downloading Web page to the
stored timestamp. This comparison may occur at the server, or the
process may download a file containing the datafile timestamp to
perform the comparison itself. If, at decision block 148, the
result of the comparison is that the datafile timestamp attached to
the presently downloading Web page is not more current than the
stored timestamp, the process is complete because the user's system
already has the most recent datafile. If the stored timestamp is
determined to have a later dating, the process returns to block 110
in FIG. 5. See block 150.
FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a window-based operating system's
desktop (not shown) that includes side-by-side windows 200 and 202
that display two Web pages 204 and 206, respectively. The first Web
page 204 is the home page of a news Web site. The news Web site
includes text, graphics, and interactive left-to-right cascading
menus that are created by a downloaded site browser and
corresponding datafile. Two sections 208 and 210 of the cascading
menus are displayed overlaying the windows 200 and 202. The
sections 208 and 210 originate from a set of menu buttons 212 that
are displayed in a designated location on the Web page 204. Each
menu button identifies a major topic area that most likely will
include links to numerous Web pages and also include a number of
subtopics. The numerous Web pages and subtopics of a menu button
are presented to a user in the menus that cascade from the set of
buttons 212. The list of menu buttons 212 and their designated
location on the Web page 204 preferably remain the same for all the
Web pages in the news Web site that are instructed to display the
set of menu buttons 212.
The cascading menus include two types of line items. The first type
of line item is a title of a Web page. The title is hyperlinked to
the associated Web page. The second type of line item is a titled
pointer to another section. The titled pointer does not provide
hyperlinking to a Web page. The first and second interactive
components are both activated when a mouse controlled cursor
overlays the area occupied by the line item. The list of buttons
212 is preferably vertically stacked and located on the left side
of the Web pages to provide user-friendly interaction and effective
use the display space.
The cascading menus are generated by the site browser based on the
contents of the datafile. The site browser makes API calls to the
windows-based operating system on the user's system based on the
structure and contents of a datafile. These API calls request the
generation of cascading menus and are similar to the API calls
other application programs make in order to make menus for the
windows presenting those application programs.
The second Web page 206 illustrates the datafile used by the site
browser to generate the cascading menus shown in the first Web page
204. When an author completes a Web page and it has been review by
the editors, its address and title are saved into a datafile by the
author, the editor, or a publisher using Web publishing software.
When all the Web pages are complete with addresses and titles
properly saved in the datafile, the datafile is given a timestamp.
The author, editor, or publisher also have the ability to change
the site browser. If the site browser is changed, a new version
identifier is assigned to the changed site browser. Then, the new
version identifier and timestamp are appended to all the Web pages
of the Web site. Therefore, when one of the Web pages with the
appended new version identifier and timestamp is downloaded, the
new site browser and datafile will be implemented, if they have not
already.
The datafile is structured in a tree-like manner in order to allow
the site browser to easily comprehend the structure of the Web
site. The datafile identifies when a menu begins and ends and the
associated button or item in a previous menu. A menu includes two
types of interactive items. The first interactive item is a heading
that is hyperlinked to a Web page. The second interactive item is a
heading that is hyperlinked to another menu. New menus are
identified within the datafile by the lines beginning with a `+`.
The text next to the `+` is included as the heading in a second
interactive item. The end of a menu is identified by a `-`. Between
the `+` and `-` are lines with information for generating first
interactive items. Each of these lines are identified by a space
followed by an address (i.e., URL) that is followed by a headline.
For example, the news front page is headlined "News Front Page" and
the address is NEWS_FRONT.asp. Addresses in the file may either be
fully defined URLs, which can point to any page on any Web server,
or relative URLs, which refer to pages in a default directory.
Lines 220 230 include examples of the first address type, and line
240 includes an example of the standard URL address type. Other
address types may be used provided the site browser has the ability
to read the address type. Because the datafile has been organized
in the tree-like manner described above, removing the need to
specify redundant information and specifying items in a more
compact notation than in the prior art, it occupies a great deal
less space and provides better downloading performance.
Referring now to FIG. 8, another actual embodiment of the present
invention will be described. According to this embodiment, Dynamic
HTML ("DHTML") is used to implement the cascading menu. In this
embodiment of the present invention, a Web page 300 is requested by
a Web browser. The Web page 300 includes HTML 302 for generating a
display of a Web page and also a top level of a menu. The Web page
300 also includes a site browser code script tag 308 which causes
the Web browser to download the site browser code 310. The site
browser code 310 comprises a script program for generating the
cascading menu. Additional details regarding the operation of the
site browser code 310 will be described below with reference to
FIGS. 10 and 11.
The Web page 300 also includes a datafile code script tag 306. This
tag causes the browser to download the datafile code 312. The
datafile code 312 is an executable script for building a data
object 314 in memory comprising the titles of the Web site's Web
pages and links to the titled Web pages. The datafile code 312 will
be described in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 9. It
should be appreciated that while the site browser code 310 and the
datafile code 312 are shown as being external to the Web page 300,
these scripts may be placed in-line within the HTML 302. However,
by placing these files external to the Web page 300, updated or
modified versions of these files may be more easily transmitted to
a Web browser.
The Web page 300 also comprises an attach script 304. The attach
script 304 comprises an executable script that attaches the
cascading menu produced by the site browser code 310 to the
top-level menu displayed by the HTML 302. The attach script 304 is
in-line with the HTML 302 but may be located elsewhere. Moreover,
it should be appreciated that the cascading menu may be attached to
an arbitrary HTML produced by the Web page 300.
Turning now to FIG. 9, aspects of the data file code 312 will be
described. As discussed briefly above, the data file code 312
comprises an executable script for building a data object 314 in
memory. Properties are set on the data object 314 that define the
hierarchy of the cascading menu. Each line of the data file code
312 defines the contents of a section of the cascading menu. In
particular, each line of the data file code 312 comprises a string
with pipe-delimited data. Pairs of substrings correspond to menu
items. For stories 320A B, the first item is the URL and the second
item is the headline to be displayed in the corresponding section
of the cascading menu. For subsections 322A, the first item defines
a pointer to another section of the data file code 312 and the
second item is the section name. It should be appreciated by those
skilled in the art that the data file code 312 could be included
directly in the Web page 300 or divided among several script files,
such as one per top-level section. Alternatively, a portion of the
data file code 312 could also be included in the Web page 300 with
the remainder contained in another data file or in the data file
code 312. Also, script contained in the Web page 300 can modify the
properties of the data object 314 once it has been created by the
datafile code 312.
Referring now to FIG. 10, an illustrative routine 1000 will be
described that illustrates the operation of a portion of the site
browser menu code 310. As mentioned briefly above, the attach
script 304 links arbitrary HTML displayed by the Web page 300 to a
cascading menu provided by the site browser menu code 310. In an
embodiment of the present invention, the Web page 300 displays a
top level of the cascading menu. This top level is linked to the
cascading menu by the attach script 304. When a user moves a mouse
cursor over a portion of the menu, the routine 1000 is called to
generate the appropriate portion of the cascading menu. It should
be appreciated that the cascading menu is not generated in this
embodiment of the present invention until a user moves the mouse
cursor over the menu or otherwise selects a portion of the
menu.
The routine 1000 begins at block 1002, where a determination is
made as to whether data associated with the selected section of the
menu is contained in the data object 314. If it is determined that
there is no data in the data object 314 corresponding to the
selected portion of the menu, there is no menu to display.
Accordingly, the routine 1000 branches from block 1002 to block
1022, where it ends. If, however, data is contained in the data
object 314 associated with the selected portion of the menu, the
routine 1000 continues to block 1004.
At block 1004, a determination is made as to whether a level of the
cascading menu is currently being displayed other than the selected
level. If another level of the menu is currently being displayed,
the routine 1000 continues to block 1006, where the currently
displayed level of the menu is removed. The routine 1000 then
continues to block 1008. If, at block 1004, it is determined that
no other level of the menu is currently being displayed, the
routine 1000 branches from block 1004 to block 1008.
At block 1008, the appropriate string for building the selected
portion of the cascading menu is retrieved from the data object
314. As described above, the string necessary to generate each
level of the cascading menu is stored as a property within the data
object 314. Accordingly, the string may be retrieved by simply
referencing the appropriate property on the data object 314. The
routine 1000 continues from block 1008 to block 1010.
At block 1010, the HTML corresponding to the selected portion of
the cascading menu is built from the appropriate string retrieved
from the data object 314. The routine 1000 then continues from
block 1010 to block 1012, where the created HTML is placed in an
invisible DIV on the currently displayed Web page. As known to
those skilled in the art, the DIV tag specifies a container that
renders HTML and may be made invisible on a page when using Dynamic
HTML.
From block 1012, the routine 1000 continues to block 1014, where
the size of the visible part of the page, the visible part of the
created menu button, and the size of the created HTML is obtained.
The routine 1000 then continues to block 1016, where this
information is utilized to determine the optimal placement of the
created HTML on the displayed Web page. For instance, if the
selected portion of the menu is located close to a bottom of the
displayed screen, the created portion of the cascading menu would
be displayed above the button so that it would not disappear off
the screen.
From block 1016, the routine 1000 continues to block 1018, where
the previously created invisible DIV is made visible. This causes
the Web browser to display the created cascading menu on the Web
page. From block 1018, the routine 1000 continues to block 1020,
where the background color of the selected menu button is changed
to indicate that the button has been selected. The routine 1000
then continues from block 1020 to block 1022, where it ends.
Referring now to FIG. 11, an illustrative routine 1200 will be
described that illustrates the operation of another portion of the
site browser menu code 310. The routine 1200 illustrates a
procedure for removing a displayed portion of the cascading menu
when the user moves a mouse cursor outside of the displayed menu or
otherwise deselects the selected portion of the menu. The routine
1200 begins at block 1202, where a determination is made as to
whether the deselected portion of the menu was recently created.
For instance, a determination may be made as to whether the menu
was created within a preset period of time, such as 250 ms. If the
menu was not recently created, the routine 1202 continues to block
1212, where the deselected portion of the menu is removed. The
routine 1200 then continues to block 1214, where it ends.
If, at block 1202, it is determined that the menu was recently
created, the routine 1200 branches to block 1204. At block 1204, a
menu protection timer is initiated. Through the use of the menu
protection timer, a "grace period" may be provided for newly
created menus. In this manner, a recently created section of the
cascading menu would not be removed where a user briefly moves the
mouse cursor off of the displayed portion of the menu and then
returns the mouse cursor to the displayed portion. This may occur
when a user moves the mouse cursor diagonally to select one of the
subchildren of a displayed portion of the cascading menu.
From block 1204, the routine 1200 continues to block 1206, where a
determination is made as to whether the menu protection timer has
elapsed. If the timer has elapsed, the routine 1200 branches from
block 1206 to block 1212, where the menu is removed. If, at block
1206, it is determined that the timer has not elapsed, the routine
1200 continues to block 1208.
At block 1208, a determination is made as to whether the user has
moved the mouse cursor back over the selected portion of the
cascading menu. If the user has not done so, the routine 1200
branches back to block 1206. If the user has made such a mouse
movement, the routine 1200 continues to block 1210, where the
onmouseover event is processed as described above with reference to
FIG. 10. From block 1210, the routine 1200 continues to block 1214,
where it ends.
While an illustrative embodiment of the invention has been
illustrated and described, it should be appreciated that various
changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention.
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